Coaching vs Mentoring
Learn the difference and what's right for you!
Coaching vs. Mentoring
Coaching and mentoring are important for professional development, but there are some key differences between the two. Mentoring involves a Senior professional working with some Junior, while coaching involves a formal relationship between a professionally trained coach and a coachee. Executive coaching differs from other learning and development programs in that it involves an ongoing and collaborative process and has a distinct timeline. It is important to explore the similarities and differences to decide the best fit for you and your organization.
Mentoring
Mentors are trusted and knowledgeable individuals who can provide guidance, support, and advice to their mentees based on the experience they've accumulated over the course of their careers. They can provide advice on educational paths, job referrals, and resources, as well as guidance in navigating office politics, having difficult
conversations, and tackling work-life balance. With proper guidance, mentees can gain valuable insight and develop a roadmap towards achieving their career goals.
Now that we've laid the foundation on what mentoring is, let's take a look at executive coaching.
Executive Coaching
An executive coach is someone who has mastered their craft of coaching and is trained to provide unique, highly specialized support to their clients in order to help them achieve their goals. The relationship between a coach and client is an active partnership where the executive coach's role is not to give advice or tell someone what they recommend they should do. Rather, an executive coach will develop their clients' abilities in their own discernment, perception, problem solving, strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, communication, goal setting and more. The coach osmosis approach is often demonstrated through inquiry, so the coach and client can first understand how the client's brain (best) processes and then determine ways to enhance and/orshort circuit their psyche to be more successful. Rarely is executive coaching in the context of a lecture, educational session. When needed, executive coaches can provide guidance on how to make changes to move forward towards their objectives by serving as a sounding board, providing a different perspective, encouragement, and motivation. Some of the benefits executive coaching can provide include exemplified communication, boosted confidence, sharpened decision making, increased productivity and overall work capacity, enhanced work environment and culture amongst colleagues, greater job satisfaction and more.
What's the difference?
Mentoring differs from coaching in that it focuses on the developing "follow-ship" skills; the client learnsthrough the recommendations and suggestions given by the mentor. Executive coaching emphasizes the leadership development of an individual through not only the content of the session, but also within the constructs and dynamics of each session. The largest difference between coaches and mentors is that coaches are paid and mentors typically volunteer their time. It is beneficial to bring both along with you for your professional journey, pending on where you are in your journey. Mentoring is common route taken by mid-career professionals vs. those who are starting out or further along in their career. Coaching, on the other hand, can be for anyone at any stage of their career or business venture(s).
Coaching or mentoring, which one is right for me?
Though mentoring and coaching both focus on professional development, there are key distinctions between the two. Most notably, mentoring is an informal process between a senior professional and a junior one, while coaching is a formal relationship where the coach is trained and paid for their work.
Because of these differences, coaches do not give advice but rather, help clients grow in specific areas through inquiry, ideation, psychology practices, and reflection.
Executive Performance Institute for Coaching's human-centered leadership development coaching model is a unique approach to upskilling and reskilling leaders at scale. We use trifecta coaching methodology aligned with an unparalleled strategic coaching framework. In turn, we are able to deliver exceptional results often that exceed client expectations. We also partner with renowned synergistic experts in the field of business consulting and management to drive and measure behavioral change at the individual and the organizational level. Ready to build a culture of coaching in your organization?